Archive...

9th May 2015, 18:23:PM

Recently we have experienced a number of malicious attacks on our domain and server. It isn't targeted specifically at LegalBeagles, it's random, they just happen to have picked on us, so nothing to panic about or conspiracy theorise over xx

We are working on stopping it as much as we can and ensuring that our servers can cope when the attacks occur, rather than instantly falling over.

Sincere apologies - I know how frustrating it is.

xxx

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“We may not win by protesting, but if we don’t protest we will lose. If we stand up to them, there is always a chance we will win.”Hetty Bower

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Our Team is made up of dedicated and enthusiastic individuals who are experienced in consumer issues. Most of them are fighting (or have successfully fought) their own battles against the major financial institutions.
All Team Members are volunteers who provide support in their own time, and our services are free to members.

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With our experience, knowledge and resources we will be at the forefront of the battles against unfair practices, whether they be from the banks or any other organisation that feels they can use unfair business practices to take money from our members.

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Kate is a consumer law Litigation Executive with a specialism in Consumer Credit Act 1974; which she uses primarily to challenge legal demands issued by banks and bulk debt purchasers.
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Comment

On occasions it can be useful to post up a screen print when you are having difficulty with a particular program, and especially, this method will be used to post up spreadsheet queries in the Join-In Excel Basic Tuition Thread rather than actual .xls files.

Most of the readers will know how to do this and may use sophisticated Photo Edit programs such as Paintshop Pro or Adobe Photoshop.

However, these notes are for the less experienced user and I will demonstrate using the program Paint which is on all Windows based PC's under the Accessories category.

We will also have a look at the Snipping Tool available on Vista/Windows 7.

I have researched add-on snipping tools for XP operating systems, and all want to add toolbars and alter your PC - so I am not taking the responsibility of reccommending one.

Soooooo

Overall Requirements re Capture/Cropping/AnnotationPrintscreen Method and Cropping & Annotation before saving with the program Paint Snipping Tool and Annotation before saving with the Snipping Tool

Overall Requirements re Capture/Cropping/Annotation

I'm specifically going to use the capture of spreadsheet images for this discussion, but the principles apply for the capture of any screenshot--be it from Word or Turbocad for instance-or a straight capture of part of this forum's current screens.

In our Excel Tuition Thread-I will show you how to annotate the general screen area using text boxes and the drawing toolbar-but I demonstrate here how to do it also with both the PrintScrn method thro' Paint and the Snipping Tool

Printscreen Method and Cropping & Annotation before saving with the program Paint

This is the method we will use for XP Operating System PC's --- although it is equally applcable to Vista and Windows 7.

Step 1

To copy the window or screen contents use the Print Screen key at top right of keyboard.

To make a copy of the active window press ALT + Print Screen Key. To copy the entire screen as it appears on your monitor, simply press Print Screen key

This effectively then places the screen image on the Clipboard.We now need to save this as a JPG file before we can post it in a message using either Attachments or Photobucket-although for our Excel Thread , we are going to use Photobucket.Step 2

Load the program Paint.On the top menu bar click Edit then PasteWe now have the image to further work on if required.

Step 3

Annotation using the TEXT tool if required like below & crop if required-by dragging on the bottom sizing handles. See Paint help screens. or

use the Select tool to highlight the bit we want THEN EDIT then COPY then FILE|NEW (discard existing if asked) then Paste then Save As

Step 4Now save the file with a unique name in your favourite location. This should be saved as a JPG file - see the drop down box.

Snipping Tool and Annotation before saving with the Snipping Tool

This method is only available to Vista and Windows 7 users.It has the advantage of an inbuilt cropping method and integrated text annotation and is very easy to use.

Shutter is a feature-rich screenshot program. You can take a screenshot of a specific area, window, your whole screen, or even of a website – apply different effects to it, draw on it to highlight points, and then upload to an image hosting site, all within one window. Shutter is free, open-source, and licensed under GPL v3.

Comment

We have become aware of a number of instances where internet users have posted online / emailed documents to others without removal of their own personal details.

ALWAYS REMOVE YOUR FULL NAME / ADDRESS / TELEPHONE NUMBERS / ACCOUNT REFERENCE / COURT CLAIM NUMBER / DATE OF BIRTH from ALL documents posted online - whether on this site, another, an image hosting site or in an email to someone.

If anyone contacts you and asks you to send them unedited/unredacted documents then DO NOT SEND THEM ANY THING and report it to site team (if it is on here) At the very least REDACT your documents before sending them, as that information is NOT required to check the majority of things out on documents, unless they are acting for you in a professional capacity (such as your solicitor).

Please be fully aware we will continue to remove any documents that reveal personal information as soon as we become aware. People are actually very good at reporting personal information left on documents to team and we act as quickly as possible to take them down.

I will see if someone can do a decent guide to uploading documents to the site and how to redact personal info (I use paint and just rub it out with the rubber bitty thing before resaving as a jpg or png then uploading to the site.)

Covering up info before scanning with thin paper / marker pen often doesn't work, and placing blocks over pages in PDF format is also a bit hit and miss. If you have lots of documents I find editing them separately in paint and then printing to PDF works well, although can be a little time consuming.

Sorry to sound like a grumpy old madam, but it is important.aw:

Metadata

Whenever you create, open, or save a document in Microsoft Word, the document may store information — known as metadata — that you had no intention of including or disclosing (this also applies to Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and Microsoft PowerPoint® files). Metadata is used for a variety of legitimate purposes, and it adds functionality to the editing, viewing, filing, and retrieving capabilities of Microsoft Office. However, if some of this information is passed on to inappropriate parties (for example, opposing counsel), that disclosure can create adverse consequences for you and your client. In order to avoid these consequences, you should make yourself familiar with the types of metadata contained in your documents and take steps to remove it whenever necessary.
Some metadata is readily accessible through the user interface of each Office program. Other metadata is only accessible through extraordinary means, such as opening a document in a low-level, binary file editor.
Some examples of metadata that may be stored in your documents

Your name
Your initials
Your company or organization name
The name of your computer
The name of the network server or hard disk where you saved the document
Other file properties and summary information
Non-visible portions of embedded OLE objects
The names of previous document authors
Document revisions
Document versions
Template information
Hidden text or cells
Personalized views
Comments

Comment

I use the same Ame, then Adolix split and merge to merge several pdf's into one (or vice versa), and finally (never actually used this) digisigner to add or remove digital signatures from pdf's - I guess a pdf can identify someone personally from the digital signature, but I'm not techy enough to know.

Rather worryingly is how easy it would be to change someone's digital signature to make it look as though a document has eminated from somewhere it has not. This could be very dangerous in the hands of a loony! :tinysmile_twink_t2:

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Comment

That is always something to think about. If you have a registered version of something it can often have your name in the properties. I have downloaded a PDF to view from a site and I have a name on it geoff someone. Same goes for MS word. Hence when you send a template letter by email if they check the properties they know which website you have sent it from

Comment

An example...some templates that I have downloaded from another website in word . When you click on properties it say author.The xxxxx family which is the surname of the owner of that site. It also names the website